• A multi-county drug bust ended a 45-day undercover operation. Thirty-four people were charged in 170 felony counts that involved selling and distributing marijuana and cocaine. The Sheriff’s Office led the bust.

• A $69.4-million county budget was proposed with no tax increase. A controversial flat fee for waste was added. The $45 fee was widely opposed but ultimately approved.

• During a joint meeting, commissioners told the Board of Education to spend what dollars were left from the $30-million 2004 bond and then come back to them when more money was needed. After the meeting, the BOE committed to $17.2 for Bunn and Louisburg high schools. Commissioners rejected a request by the BOE to pursue a bond referendum in November.

• Freshmen Academy concept was introduced by the county’s high school principals; the idea was to help freshmen enter into the high school environment and to refresh students on concepts they would encounter during their high school years.

• Municipal leaders opposed a $45 waste fee during a county pubic hearing on the budget.

• Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church celebrated the dedication of a new church building.

• The Laurel Mill Elementary School after-school program ended.

• Franklinton and Youngsville police departments got about $17,000 combined to help buy new equipment and a street drug offensive.

• County commissioners rejected the NASSIF property site for a new elementary school and high school location, preferring the Mitchell property, which was being pushed by former Commissioner Jim Moss under an option and which, commissioners said, fit in better with their growth plans.

• The Youngsville Revitalization Committee and the Franklin County Arts Council worked together to bring a mural to Youngsville on the side of Griffen’s Restaurant, painted by Kim Young.

• Commissioners approved a $98,000 economic development incentive to help expand operations at Flextronics.

• Royal Elementary School Principal Rob Bendel was spotted in a hula skirt as the last days of the school year winded down with field day activities.

• The Department of Transportation installed a much-requested signal at the intersection of U.S. Highway 1 and Pocomoke Road. A fatality had occurred there only two months earlier killing 77-year-old James Sandling. Many others had lost their lives there in traffic accidents.

• Beloved former state Sen. Jim Speed passed away.

• A 13-year-old Kittrell boy drowned in a drainage ditch after playing ball following a heavy rain storm. Seven inches fell, washing out roadways.

• The county budget — $45 waste fee included — is adopted by commissioners, who also adopted the Adequate Public Schools Ordinance.

• Dr. Thomas O. Wheless passed away.

• Reading test scores increased overall in Franklin County Schools; later in the year, math scores took a plunge as new guidelines were in place statewide.

• Bunn Middle School math teacher Dennis Tabron was named Teacher of the Year.

• Elections’ Supervisor Billy Craft announced his retirement.

• The Clerk of Court Office had two write-in candidates challenge incumbent Alice Faye Hunter. They were Dan Vinson and Frances Hunt.

• Louisburg police were investigating a string of downtown break-ins.

• Property crime reports in Youngsville and Franklinton were on the rise, according to state statistics; Bunn was the same, and Louisburg was down from the previous year.

• Jim Moss started courting the Board of Education to consider buying the commissioners’-favored Mitchell property for the new elementary school. The Board of Education had his presentation in open session. Moss also proposed a site for the new high school; the deal eventually fell through, although the Mitchell property was selected. The high school property off Cedar Creek Road was OK’d by the BOE and commissioners and purchased at the end of the year. It is known as the Forest City tract.

• Natural gas lines were going down throughout Louisburg as a townwide effort to bring the service through PSNC Energy.

• Ben Barrick was granted a continuance in his manslaughter case involving the death of Deputy Ted Horton in the NETSTAR helicopter crash.

• A 13-year-old Kittrell boy drowned in a drainage ditch after playing ball following a heavy rain storm. Seven inches fell, washing out roadways.(Which speaks once again to the need for a public swimming pool, and swimming lessons, in our area!)

I have been told the Kitrell boy did not drown because he could not swim...he made the mistake of riding a bike into a ditch that looked like it had only a few inches of water, but in reality was very deep. The force of the deep water pinned the bike against the boy and he was unable to push against the strong current. We need still need the things I suggested, but this is not why the boy died, in this case.